‘Pampered’ stars need to join real world

Oct 30 2007 by Chris Beesley, Liverpool Daily Post

TRANMERE manager Ronnie Moore believes that ‘pampered’ starlets at big clubs should do themselves a favour and see what life is like in the ‘real world’ by coming to places like Prenton Park on loan.

Last week, Moore ended his search to bring in a temporary replacement for left-winger Steve Davies, who has been ruled out for the season with a cruciate ligament injury.

However, instead of bringing in a hungry young player in search of first team football, Moore brought in 32-year-old Kevin Cooper from Cardiff City and the Tranmere manager revealed that this is because too many youthful players don’t fancy being farmed out to the lower divisions.

He said: “It is frustrating that they don’t want to come out.

“There are some in there who aren’t good enough that clubs will let out but the better ones in there need to get out and play football.

“More teams need to be like Manchester United, their lads are out there (on loan) and playing and that’s how they benefit I feel.

“Sir Alex lets them out, in fact he sends them out.

“He doesn’t let a player dictate to him that he’s isn’t going out.

“It’s a bit like me. If somebody came in for one of my younger lads and I felt it would benefit them, I wouldn’t care less if they didn’t want to go – they go because it’s going to make them a better player and we’ll get the benefits from it.”

Moore added: “I think managers should be stronger and tell players ‘You’re off for a month, you’re not going to figure here for a month so get yourself over there and see what the real world is like’.

“Sometimes it’s an eye-opener when players come from your Manchester Uniteds to a Tranmere or a Rotherham.

“They realise what the real world is like out there because they’re awfully pampered when they’re up at those big clubs and it’s wake-up time for them,” Moore added.

It’s all a far cry from Moore’s playing days when he racked up more than 600 appearances in a career that included two spells at Tranmere, plus stints with Cardiff, Rotherham, Charlton and Rochdale.

He said: “When I played, and I don’t want to sound like a moaning old so-and-so saying ‘When I did this and when I did that’, you wanted to have league games and you wanted to finish your playing career with 600 or 700 league games, that was a feat.

“Now people are playing 100 and odd games but they’re loaded and are millionaires so I think it is a culture thing because the kids have got so many things to do and are not really under too much pressure.

“They think ‘Why should I go to another club when I can sit about here in the Premier League and play in the reserves?’

“I honestly think sometimes when I watch reserve team games that I can play in them because the pace is five-a-side.

“That’s why I really think they should be getting out and playing at Football League level.”

Tranmere had been tracking Cooper for some time but had to wait before Cardiff manager David Jones made the player available.